News and Analysis
The MULO Dozen: July Brands in Review
Some things slow down over the summer, but this July the MULO ecosystem continues to heat up phygital enhancements, leadership changes, and creative new marketing approaches. Hot dogs are not just for family BBQs this summer! Wienerschnitzel is making a bold new leap, with the hot dog chain announcing its expansion to the East Coast, aiming to solidify […]
MULO Brands With Soul July Pick: NIKE
“Just Do It” is the NIKE tagline. It’s been around since 1988, and it also captures the brand’s view toward giving back and building a positive company culture. The brand is our July choice for a Brand with Soul. Or, perhaps it should be Brand with Sole, although the footwear manufacturer has expanded to include […]
Meet the Street Fight LIVE 2025 Speakers: Part 2
We’re just weeks away from Street Fight LIVE 2025 on September 30th in Los Angeles at Microsoft’s Playa Vista headquarters. What better place to tackle the huge impact that tech, AI, and digital media is having on the brick-and-mortar business ecosystem? Plus, the ecosystem itself is rapidly changing, with retailers, restaurants, service businesses, convenience stores, […]
Commentary
Streets Ahead: Bluesky Soars and Google Expands
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses the mass exodus from X to Bluesky and Google expanding its “Nearby Offers and Events” feature. Bluesky Usage Soars Amid Exodus from X The News In the aftermath of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Bluesky, a two-year-old decentralized social media platform, has seen a dramatic rise in user […]
How AI Can Help Multi-Location Restaurants Prevent Another Health Crisis
What if restaurants could spot a health crisis before it spreads? With the help of AI, they just might. McDonald’s burger patties may not have been the culprit of its recent E. coli outbreak, which the company quickly traced back to slivered onions, but customers temporarily took a step back from the quick-serve restaurant’s top […]
Streets Ahead: Meta’s Threads and Instagram Video Quality
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses the continued growth of the Meta’s Threads platform and the Instagram move to adjust video quality based on popularity Threads Rapid Rise: 275M Users and Counting The News Meta’s Threads app, emerging as a competitor to X (formerly Twitter), has rapidly grown, now boasting 275 million monthly […]
Latest Posts
MULO Brands With Soul December Pick: Hummingbirds
Our previous Brands With Soul have all been retail, restaurant, service, and CPG brands with multiple locations (MULO) and millions of dollars to spend on rewarding their teams and giving to charities. But soul isn’t just for those brands. In fact, starting a business that serves MULO brands can be in the hands of an […]
‘Tis the Season of Predictions: The Rise of Data Networks, According to Perion
We’re at that time of year again. We’re not just talking about holiday spending. It’s the season where industry experts have future thinking dancing in their heads like sugarplums. Daniel Aks, President of Undertone by Perion, predicts the rise of first-party data networks across financial and transportation sectors. He anticipates major ad tech mergers and […]
How Will You Advertise in 2025? Here’s What 3 Industry Leaders Predict
As part of our 2025 predictions series, we reached out to three companies that specialize in new (and refined conventional) ways to advertise to consumers. They are all relevant to MULO (multi-location) brands, along with targeted creator marketing, retail media, and other new (and old) forms of marketing. As streaming media becomes a more significant […]
Stop the Texting Madness! Jack Philbin on How to Not Get Blocked by Consumers
Jack Philbin is CEO at Vibes, a texting message platform many MULO (multi-location) brands use. We talked to him about how consumers view text messages and how to craft the right ones. Philbin stresses: “The most important thing marketers can do right now, especially as we enter the holidays, is to prioritize quality over quantity […]
‘Tis Swag Season: Year-Round Gifting Trends from Graham Walsh
This is the season of gifting for MULO (multi-location) brands and the suppliers, agencies and tech companies that support them. These brands: Give holiday and thank you gifts to their valued clients Buy giveaways for trade shows and conferences, and consumer activations Invest in employee incentives and keepsakes for team gatherings Stock their online shelves […]
SPB Now Stands for “Serve People Better”
Everyone loves a holiday miracle story! And that may be the turnaround of SPB, which took over a wide range of struggling brands. The abbreviation stood for “Steak, Pizza, and Beer,” but Josh Kern, the CEO, is now committed to changing its meaning to “Serve People Better.” That’s what he aspires to do with the […]
GumGum’s Grimace: The Ads that Stole Christmas
Forget privacy issues. Re-targeted ads are in cahoots with the Grinch, stealing the joy of surprise from Christmas. Nobody can be blamed when opening up a gift and thinking, “Now where have I seen that before? Oh yes, ads for it were sprayed across all my social-media accounts and everywhere I went on the Web.” […]
BUST: The Party is Over for Party City
Although we’d love to keep things festive and bright this holiday season and report just on future trends and greatest hits of 2024, the sad reality is that some retailers can’t keep the lights on. According to CNN, Party City is the latest retailer to announce that it is closing all its stores and going […]
Streets Ahead: Tiktok to Supreme Court, ChatGPT Search Sources
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses TikTok taking its battle to the Supreme Court and the sources that support ChatGPT in the search landscape TikTok Appeals to Supreme Court in Fight Against Ban The News TikTok is taking its battle to the Supreme Court following the passage of a U.S. law requiring its […]
ARound Uses AR To Bring Live Events to Life
Imagine sitting in a stadium, watching your favorite sports team compete when suddenly the whole place is transformed into an Alaskan wilderness. That actually happened during a Rams game in SoFi Stadium earlier in the fall when ARound created one of its shared experiences. The augmented reality company owned by Stagwell, combines broadcast and mobile […]
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